While it may be fun to shop on occasion for oneself, there are a wealth of benefits to you in donating to a non-profit or other worthy cause. Your donation could help such an organization in ways you couldn't have imagined yourself, and possibly more efficiently than if you tried to offer your hands or mind for work.

For one, you can sometimes benefit by giving a tax-deductible gift or donation. Donating your car is tax-deductible, as are some items you can purchase on select websites like The Hunger Site. You can avoid paying a capital gains tax this way!

Some organizations offer special benefits for those who donate. InKind Direct takes notice if you donate and will give you so much money off your next purchase from them.

If you give blood, you can get free cookies or shirts. I got a coupon for a free Marie Callender's pie! I turned that thing in that day... Such organizations have great connections to special benefits, so try to take advantage of them! They're there for you!

Giving blood even has health benefits, such as helping to prevent iron overload.

If you donate to an institution, chances are that your name will appear somewhere within it, whether in a magazine or program or on its walls for everyone to see! That way you can show off to your old classmates by donating to your alma mater and proving how much money you make.

You may work at a company with excess parts or products no longer needed or wanted. Don't just create more waste at a dump; make use of it by donating to a school or somewhere else that can use it... and take it off your hands. Who knows? You might get recognized for it.

Some colleges and high schools will give students credit for community service hours if they donate blood, clothes, or money. My college service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, credited me for half an hour of service when I gave blood, and those hours added up to a Community Service Transcript Notation, which was a sticker on my diploma showing I did more than 150 hours of service in college.

Finally, the other benefits are personal: knowing you contributed to something good, that your money didn't go to something trivial and temporary, that you have a good heart. Maybe that person you've been crushing on likes that and will take notice :)